Hobbit Videogame Not Arriving Alongside Movie

Longer to wait

Fans of the work of Tolkien who are more interested in re-living the experiences described in his books via videogames rather than watching them translated into moving pictures will apparently have to wait quite some time before getting to play Bilbo as he gets his hands on the Ring, which will then feature prominently in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Guillermo del Toro, who is directing The Hobbit, at the moment set to appear in December 2011, has said that the schedule is too tight to get a videogame tie in out at the same time. He has told MTV Multiplayer that “It's too ambitious to try and tackle that along with The Hobbit. We have such tight release dates. Planning a video game that revolutionizes all things... the way it should be... We're gonna be involved, we're gonna be participating, but I don't think we're going to create a revolution just yet, or be as involved as I would like to be in creating that.”

It seems that the movie director wishes to create something more than the usual run of the mill videogames that arrive alongside Hollywood blockbusters, like the recent Terminator: Salvation double release. Del Toro appears to be keen on developing a videogaming experience separated from that offered by the movie and that changes how gamers view their own medium.

Apparently, Guillermo del Toro is very interested in videogames, watching not only the big releases that usually draw the attention of Hollywood but more obscure ones, like the recent Flower, which he described as being a bit like haiku.

The problem is that his revolutionary ideas might be preempted by the movie studios aiming to make a quick buck via videogame adaptations, so expect to see some sort of The Hobbit videogames coming alongside the movies that will grace theaters in 2011 and in 2012.